Public Atmospheres.When designing public space for our new buildings, offices, retail outlets, hotels and spas, architects have come to embrace a sense of wellness to define the 21st century’s chapter in minimalism. This contemporary zen focuses on clean lines, honest materials and the use of light as a second architectural plane; created in relation to the site and honouring the surrounding environment.

We will elevate our stores to the status of churches in which to discover calming merchandise and experience softer forms of selling. A hotel will be a sanctuary in which to be protected from the stress of everyday life. The well-being spa or beauty laboratory will become a true temple in which to realign our minds and bodies.

And work time will be measured in portions, enabling us to control it on our own terms and find a balance between business and pleasure, public and private, commerce and concentration.

These quiet buildings and annexes look may like concepts from the future when contrasted by the presence of the existing elements around them; yet they actually are considered in harmony by designers and architects intent on offering us moments of beauty and spirituality on a day-by-day or moment-by-moment basis. Well-being will infiltrate every aspect of design.By Lidewij Edelkoort

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